In That World
by KennDemon
Summary: Sei lives with thoughts of other worlds in a life where his every thought has been public knowledge. So what will he do when he starts high school and has time to think on his own? Will he figure things out? Not much Twilight, but bits were inspired by it
1. Chapter 1

It was the 29th of February. Sei knew this fact better than he knew anything else. He had been staring at the calendar on his wall since he got up, and now that he had to leave his room, he was staring at the app on his phone. No matter how much he stared, it still read that same date.

_February 29__th__, 2012._ He repeated over and over in his head. _February 29__th__, 2012._ Oh, how he wished he could change the date, make it a different year so that he would be in a time that didn't exist.

_What would that be like?_ He started to wonder. It was the first time all day his mind had drifted away from the date. _Would it be better?_

Then he blinked in surprise. "Distress!" He called out, shaking his head.

The car pulled over and came to a stop. Mr. Penson turned around in his seat to look at him. "Talk to me, Sei." He said, in the same serious voice he had used every time Sei had heard him speak.

"Would another dimension be better than this one?" He spoke exactly what was on his mind.

That was the deal he had with the Organization. If ever he had thoughts of leaving the life he lived, he used the codeword and explained exactly what he was thinking. In exchange for not keeping his thoughts a secret, the Organization gave Sei the freedom to leave the compound when he wanted.

Mr. Penson almost smirked. "You can't improve perfection." He said, turning around and pulling out onto the road again.

Sei sunk back into the back seat and went back to staring at the calendar on his phone. This was why he had no problem sharing his thoughts with the people from the Organization. They never really cared what he was thinking. With a simple comment that was supposed to sound profound, they always returned to what they were doing.

_One day,_ Sei thought to himself. _One day they'll see that I need them to do something. One day meaningless words won't be enough to distract me/ One day I really will be gone._

His mouth twitched slightly as the car pulled up in front of the school. He waited where he sat, with the calendar still open on his phone. When the shadow of Mr. Penson moved across the door, he quickly punched something in, saved it, and put the phone on lock. Then he smoothly stepped out of the car and stared up at the new school.

_One day… Or today._

* * *

><p>The first class on Sei's schedule was English. When he walked into the classroom, the first thing he noticed was the wall of windows across from the door. The second thing he noticed was more of a memory, it was the fact that the classroom was on the third floor of the school. Wide windows, three floors up, that made for a pretty easy last jump.<p>

Only after that thought did he actually notice the other people in the class. They were all gathered around different desks, as if they had been chatting. Everyone was silent now, and they were all staring at him.

_Let them stare._ He thought, shrugging. The motion caused his bag to fall from his shoulder. It landed on the ground beside him, and he didn't bother to pick it up. If he did make a run for the window, it would be too easy for someone to pull him back by the strap on the bag.

"Sei Gea?" A man behind a desk asked, looking at Sei.

Sei turned to him just long enough to nod. Then he went back to staring blankly at the windows. He had learned not to give anything away on his face while he thought. When you live with a bunch of people whose job it is to record your every thought, you learned to face thoughtlessness.

"You can sit in the back row, beside the window." The man behind the desk, who Sei assumed was the teacher, Mr. German, directed him.

Reluctantly, Sei picked up his bag and made his way to the assigned seat. He could feel everyone's eyes on him, but he ignored them. He didn't need people thinking they could become his friends.

When he reached his seat and sunk into it, Sei turned to the window. He felt the weight of his phone in his pocket, a reminder of the date.

He was still thinking about the date, and what it meant, when the class bell went.

Mr. German stood in front of the board and called the class' attention to what he wanted to teach them. "Today I would like to look at the use of other worlds in literature." He said. He turned and drew a circle on the board, labeling it 'Earth'. "Does anyone have any thoughts on the topic before we begin the lesson?"

"Isn't using another world just an excuse to make up anything, and just say that it's possible in another world?" A girl in the front of the room said. Sei thought she sounded full of herself.

"Not necessarily." Mr. German answered her. "Sometimes things happen in other worlds that wouldn't happen here, but they happen to illustrate something from our own world."

"Other worlds are easier to write about than the real world." The boy beside Sei said.

Mr. German raised an eyebrow at him. "Why do you say that?" He asked.

"Well…" The boy tried to think of some reasoning. "If you get to make everything up, then you don't have to do research."

"Would you rather do research, or have to explain a fictional land to the point where it feels real?" Mr. German challenged. The boy had no response to that.

"Today feels like a portal to another world." Sei breathed.

Unfortunately, the class was so quiet that everyone heard him. He groaned as everyone turned to stare at him. He should have just kept his thoughts sealed within his mind. He was at school, it wasn't like there was anyone to record his thoughts even if he expressed them.

"That's an interesting thought, Mr. Gea." Mr. German said, a half smile spreading on his face. He picked up a stack of papers on his desk and started to hand them out. "Yes, many authors use an event that differs from the norm in order to send their protagonist to another world."

"Like a transfer student?" Someone on the other side of the room asked. Sei heard the group around her start to snicker.

Mr. German didn't notice the snickering. "Yes, Natasha. Something like that." Then he paused. He looked at Sei for a few moments before a look of realization crossed his face. "Um, yes, well, we may all get sent on an adventure in another world now that Mr. Gea has joined us."

"I'm glad I could give you all something to look forward too." Sei grumbled. He glanced at the paper that Mr. German placed in front of him. It looked boring, so he turned to the window. It had started to rain.

Mr. German went on to explain the assignment to the class. It was a report on the author's use of his other world. Without even reading the story, Sei answered one of the questions. Did the author use the other world successfully? _Yes, because he got the protagonist out of this one._

By the time the class ended, Sei hadn't looked away from the window once. He also hadn't moved closer to it, which was disappointing.

With everyone else, Sei got out of his seat and left the room.


	2. Chapter 2

Sei's second class was Chemistry. When he walked into the room, it was almost completely empty. The only person in the room was the teacher, Mr. Land. Sei walked over to him and handed over his schedule, not caring that he was interrupting the man's work.

"Sei Gea?" The man read the name on the schedule. When Sei nodded stiffly, he smiled. "Well, welcome to the world of Chemistry."

Sei almost smiled. "Is it different from the world in the hallway with all the idiots?"

Mr. Land let out a roaring laughter that made Sei jump slightly. "Yes, it is completely different." He put an arm around Sei's shoulders. "And my mission is to keep you from returning to the world of the idiots."

"So you're holding me captive with knowledge?" Sei smirked. He had to admit, this exchange was pretty fun. He decided that teachers could be entertaining at times.

"Yes, it's the strongest thing I have." Mr. Land led him to a bookshelf and pulled out an old textbook. "Once you learn its secrets, I will be powerless to keep you here."

Sei took the text book and opened it to look at the table of contents. They were already a month into the course, so he looked past the first unit. Unit two looked like it would be a lot of labs. He smiled to himself. _Hands on work, good. Something to focus on._

"Let's see…" Mr. Land muttered to himself. Sei looked over and saw that he had pulled out a thick binder. He was looking at the first page in the binder, which seemed to be a seating plan. "We've got an empty seat at table six." He pointed to the table in the second row beside the window. "The far one."

Sei nodded and headed to his seat. When he was turned away from Mr. Land, he smirked. Two classes in a row and he was seated beside the window. He had great luck. While this class was only on the first floor, the window still offered some escape.

_And a busy road._ He chuckled to himself as he watched a delivery truck drive past.

* * *

><p>They were starting a new lab that day. When they were dismissed to go to their lab stations, Sei looked around the room. It looked like the partner groups were just whoever was sitting at each table. <em>Great.<em> Sei sighed.

He turned to the boy who was sitting beside him. When he had come in, his nose had been in a book. He hadn't said a word to Sei. The only good thing about him, in Sei's opinion, was that he wore glasses, which probably meant he was smart, otherwise he would have just worn contacts.

Sei didn't even know the boy's name. He shrugged as he got up from the table. _Well, I don't need to know his name to be able to do this lab._

"Hey." The boy said, slowly getting up from his seat. Sei looked at him with a bored expression. "I'm Eduard von Bock."

Sei blinked at him twice before what he had said registered. "Sei Gea." He replied. Then he walked past Eduard, heading for the lab with the number six pasted on the counter.

"We're going to need hydrogen peroxide, yeast, beryllium, and H2O." Eduard read from the lab sheet as he followed Sei. "I'll go get them, since you probably don't now what to look for."

"Yeast is used in baking, beryllium is soap, and H2O is water." He filled a small cup with water from the tap, then walked to the supply closet. He grabbed the soap, and while he was there he saw a bottle labeled hydrogen peroxide, so he grabbed that too. Then he went to the small fridge and got the yeast.

"There." He said, placing the items on the counter in front of Eduard. "Now let's get started." He reached for some safety goggles.

Eduard started by carefully reading over the instructions. While he did that, Sei looked around at the counter. Mr. Land had set out little things that they would need, like a soda bottle. He picked it up and turned it in his hand. The label had been removed, but he guessed from the smell still lingering on it that it had held root beer.

"Okay." Eduard breathed, setting down the instructions. He grabbed the bottle from Sei and stood it up on the counter. "Pass me the hydrogen peroxide." He ordered.

Sei frowned as he reached for the chemical. As he turned to hand it to Eduard, he saw the little skull and crossbones on it. For a moment he wondered what would happen if he drank it. It would probably be the escape he longed for.

"Don't." Eduard said flatly. Sei looked at him in surprise and saw that he was staring at him intently. "Don't drink that stuff."

Sei rolled his eyes. "I wasn't gonna." He stated, handing the bottle to Eduard. He watched as Eduard measured out the chemical and carefully poured it into the soda bottle.

_I wasn't gonna._ Sei repeated to himself. He stared at the bottle once Eduard put it down. _I wasn't!_ He sighed as he got the soap for Eduard. _Was I?_

Sei was surprised by the size of the cafeteria. While this school was the only high school in town, the town was smaller than the compound where Sei lived. The school population couldn't have been more than five hundred. He guessed that the cafeteria could sit at least five fifty.

_That's what happens when the budget is managed by the students._ He sighed. He remembered reading that it was student council that decided how to spend the budget for improving the school. He remembered thinking that it might be fun to be involved in that.

After he bought his lunch (since the people at the compound were 'too busy' to make him a lunch before he left for school), he walked through the cafeteria. His destination was a table in the dark back corner of the room.

"Sei!"

Sei stopped and looked in the direction of the voice. He didn't know anyone (other than maybe Eduard), so he was a little confused. He had no idea who the boy waving at him was.

"Come sit with us!" Someone else at the table called out.

Sei ignored them and turned toward the back table. He had never had to interact with other people his own age before, and he really didn't want to start now. He hated the whole idea of being sent to high school, and he wanted to keep interaction to a minimum, which meant eating lunch alone.

"That's Ivan's table." Another boy in the group said, looking where he knew Sei was headed. "You don't want to sit there."

Frowning, Sei turned back to them. He didn't know who Ivan was, and he didn't care. "What do you want?" He asked.

"Just sit with us." The first boy said. He picked up a hamburger and shoved half of it in his mouth at once.

_Why would I want to?_ Sei wondered. Then he sighed. He knew that the higher ups at the compound wanted him to make friends, so he gave in and went to sit with the group.


	3. Chapter 3

There were four of them. The boy with the hamburger introduced himself as Alfred before shoving the rest of his burger in his mouth and reaching for a shake and another burger simultaneously. There was a Japanese boy named Kiku, who was eating sushi quietly. The other two where Arthur, who was eating something that Sei couldn't identify, and Francis, who was eating what looked like French onion soup.

"So where did you move from?" Alfred asked with his mouth full.

"What?"

"You're a transfer student, non?" Francis said in way of an explanation.

"Yeah…" Sei poked at his macaroni and cheese. It was more cheese than macaroni, which was a plus for the school, since that was just how he liked it.

"So where did you transfer from?" Alfred demanded impatiently.

"Oh." Sei couldn't tell them that he had lived on the compound his whole life. He shrugged dismissively and reached for his carton of soy milk. "I was home schooled." He said. "I didn't move from anywhere."

"Oh." Alfred sounded disappointed. "I thought you would have come from a different country."

"Pretty much everyone at this school is from a country other than America." Francis said. "Like moi." He flipped his long blond hair over his shoulder in a way that reminded Sei of girls in movies. "I'm from France."

"Aren't we in Canada?" Sei asked, not really caring where anyone was from.

"Canada's just the biggest US state." Alfred said, waving off the comment. He grabbed a cookie that was twice the size of his head and took a bite.

"That's Texas." Sei corrected. If there was anything that got under his skin, it was mistakes regarding geography. He often thought of the world as a group of people, and if someone made a mistake, it hurt the feelings of another country. "Canada is the second largest country in the world, second only to Russia."

"Speaking of which." Arthur said, tilting his head in the direction of the back corner. Sei looked and saw a group of six people taking their seats at the table he had originally intended to sit at. "Ivan's from Russia." Arthur pointed out the tall boy who was wearing a long coat and scarf.

Sei nodded slightly, not caring. Then his attention was grabbed when he noticed that Eduard was among the other five kids. He didn't know why he found that interesting, but it did make him smirk.

"Steer clear of them." Alfred warned. He spoke with his mouth full and sprayed cookie crumbs across the table. Everyone flinched away. "That whole group is dangerous."

"Even the little one." Kiku spoke up.

_Little one?_ Sei looked back at the table. Sure enough, sitting right beside Eduard was a boy even shorter than Sei. He looked like he was shaking, and his expression was one of fear.

_He's dangerous?_ Sei found himself wondering. Then he caught himself. _I'm pretty dangerous too._ He reminded himself of the time when he had not cared about anything to the extent when he had let a building in the compound get engulfed in flames. Ten people had died, and he hadn't cared at all.

"Arthur, look." Francis's voice cut into Sei's memory. He was pointing at another small boy who was happily walking toward Ivan's table.

Arthur shook his head and went back to eating. "I swear Peter's got a death wish."

"Peter is Arthur's little brother." Alfred whispered to Sei.

Sei nodded so that Alfred would know that he had heard him. He watched as Peter reached the table and said something to the small boy there. The boy smiled slightly in a way that looked grateful before turning to Ivan. Something was exchanged, and then the boy got to his feet and followed Peter out of the cafeteria.

"He's really pushing his luck." Arthur muttered. Sei noticed that worry flashed on his face for a moment when he looked after Peter. This interested Sei, since it showed that Arthur really did care for his brother.

Sei hadn't been raised with any other kids, so he didn't know what it was like to have siblings. He had read somewhere that family love, which was what they tried to imitate in the compound, was the strongest love out there. He had never felt it, so he didn't know.

And when Sei didn't know something, he either spent all his energy finding it out, or he just ignored it because he didn't really care.

This time, he found himself wanting to learn.

* * *

><p>Immediately after lunch, Sei had Physical Education. He knew that the higher ups at the compound had forged his transfer documents, so they had been able to put whatever they wanted for his past credits. He was a little pissed off that they hadn't given him a Physical Education credit. He did enough physical activity at the compound already.<p>

When Sei entered the boys' change room, it was completely empty. He saw that the walls were lined with small lockers, and each locker had a name on it. Since there was nobody else there, he lazily walked around, looking at the names. He didn't expect to find his own name.

But he did. It was located between two lockers that said 'Kirkland' and 'Galante'. He pulled open the door and found a small slip of paper inside. When he unfolded the paper, he found a combination typed on it. Sei guessed that it was the combination to the locker, but he wasn't going to take any chances.

Without putting anything in the locker, he closed it and gave the dial a spin. Then, reading carefully from the paper, he tried the combination. The tumblers clicked and the locker opened. Satisfied, Sei committed the combination to memory.

"You should just go somewhere else for lunch."

Sei turned when he heard voices. The locker room door was pushed open and two boys entered. One looked a lot happier than the other.

With a blink of surprise, Sei recognized them from the cafeteria. The happy one was Arthur's brother, Peter. The other one was the small boy from Ivan's table.

"Oh!" Ivan's friend breathed when he saw Sei. "Uh, hi."

Peter looked at Sei for a moment before a huge smile spread across his face. "Hi!" He practically shouted. He ran to Sei's side and grinned. "Are you a new student? Is that your locker? You must be new, since that locker has been empty for the last month! Gea, huh? It's nice to meet you, I'm Peter!"

Sei almost punched the boy in the face to get him to shut up. He had never liked people who talked a lot. That was probably because he hated to talk himself, but it didn't really matter, he just didn't like them.

"Sei." He said quickly. Then he bent and unzipped his backpack. As he picked up his bag, he pulled the school issued Physical Education uniform out. Then he shoved his bag into the locker and shut it.

"This is Ravis." Peter said, nodding at the other boy, who was walking behind Sei to the locker with the name 'Galante'. Then Peter turned to the locker marked 'Kirkland' and turned the dial. "Hey, do you want to do the warm up with us?"

Sei didn't even pause as he changed. "I always warm up alone."

"You'll never pass the class if you don't work with others." Peter stated, sounding like a teacher. Sei frowned in response.

"Are we going to warm up with Sophia again?" Ravis asked timidly.

Sei took this opportunity to shove his clothes into his locker and get out of there. He didn't feel like arguing about what he was going to do. He'd go find the teacher and explain that it was safer for him to warm up on his own.

He was just leaving the locker room when he heard someone shout.

"Heads up!"


	4. Chapter 4

Sei's head flew in the direction that the cry had come from. He sensed more than saw a basketball flying toward him. Swiftly, he brought his hands up in front of his face and caught the ball. His heartbeat didn't increase at all through it all.

"Wow, good catch!" A girl called as she ran up to him. She had her shoulder length brown hair pulled into a side ponytail that bobbed about as she jogged. "When I saw you come out of the locker room, I thought for sure you would end up with a concussion." She laughed.

Sei just shrugged and handed the ball back to her. "I've got good reflexes."

"I noticed." The girl laughed. Then she squinted at him slightly. "I also noticed that I've never noticed you before, and I think I would have. Who are you?"

Sei mentally sighed. He was starting to hate being new even more than he did this morning. He felt so uncomfortable introducing himself to others. "I'm-"

He was interrupted by the door behind him opening. "Hey!" Peter exclaimed. He stepped to Sei's side and grinned, throwing an arm around his shoulders. "So you did wait for us, let's start that warm up."

"Oh!" The girl gasped slightly. "So you're Peter's friend."

"Hi Sophia." Ravis greeted the girl politely but quietly as he came out of the locker room. He stepped to the side as other boys pushed past him on their way in.

"Hey, Ravis." The girl, Sophia, said with a smile. Then she turned back to Sei. "You should have told me you're friends with Peter. Now I feel really bad about almost hitting you." She tossed the basketball up in the air to illustrate what she was saying.

"Why would I do that?" Sei asked, bored. He wasn't friends with Peter, and even if he was, he wasn't going to go tell everyone he met who his friends were.

"Didn't you know?" She asked, looking surprised. "Peter's my cousin." She tucked the basketball under her arm and stuck out her hand. "Sophia Kirkland."

Sei wanted to ask her how he was supposed to have known that they were related, but he didn't. Asking would have led to a conversation that, no matter how short, would still feel too long. Instead, he simply shook her hand and introduced himself as well. "Sei Gea."

The class bell rang, and was quickly followed by the teacher, Mr. Rush's whistle. "Kirkland, get the stragglers out here!" He ordered.

"On it!" Both Peter and Sophia replied. Then they ran into their respective locker rooms.

Sei watched Mr. Rush and noticed that he smirked as he watched the two students. _It must be convenient having them both._ He thought.

When Peter and Sophia returned, followed by a steam of kids from each locker room, Mr. Rush started the class. They were going to be playing dodge ball, boys against girls.

Sei stood in the corner of the court with Ravis as the game began. It swiftly progressed, with Peter getting most of the girls out, and Sophia getting most of the boys out. It didn't take more than five minutes for it to come down to Peter VS Sophia.

"Sophia!" One of the girls called from the sidelines. "In the corner!"

"Huh?" Sophia quickly glanced to the corner of the court. When she saw Sei and Ravis, she smirked. "Oh no you don't!" She shouted, and threw the ball hard in our direction.

Ravis squeaked and ducked low while Sei didn't move. Instead, he caught the ball and threw it back at Sophia as hard as he could. Only after it had left his hands did he realize that he didn't have to throw it that hard.

"Gah!" Sophia cried out as the ball hit her in the face. Everyone watched as she crumpled to the floor, hands covering her face. They all ignored when the ball bounced away from her and knocked over the basket of other balls.

"Ohmigod!" Half the girls cried at once. They all jumped up from the sidelines and ran to Sophia's side. "Sophia, are you alright?"

Sophia didn't move her hands, and after a moment, Sei saw way. Emerging from between her fingers was a thick red liquid. Sei had hit her so hard that she was bleeding heavily. He felt a painful pang of an unfamiliar emotion and he turned away.

Then his eyes met Peter's, and the pang grew stronger. He quickly shook his head and ran into the locker room. He had to escape the pain.

* * *

><p>Sei didn't leave the locker room until just before everyone else started to change. When he did leave, he took the back way out, so that he wouldn't have to go through the gymnasium.<p>

Because he left Physical Education so early, Sei got to his fourth and final class just as the bell to end third period went. Surprisingly, even though he was so early, he wasn't the first one there. One other student was standing outside the room when he approached.

"Sei?" It was Arthur.

"Oh, hi." Sei said, emotionlessly. He walked past Arthur and tried the door. It was locked.

"Miss French has a class in a different room third period, so she won't be here for a few minutes." Arthur leaned back against a locker. "The rest of the class know that, so they also won't be here for a while."

"Oh." Sei breathed. _Great._ He grumbled in his head. _I've got to wait here for a while, and of all the people who I could have had to wait with, it's the older cousin of the girl who I injured last period._

"Hey." Arthur said, grabbing his attention. "Did you have gym last period?"

"Gym?" It took Sei a moment to realize that it was just another name for Physical Education. "Um, yeah."

Arthur nodded. "I just came from the nurse's office." He said, looking up at the ceiling. The tiles were painted with different scenes. "I was there to see Sophia, since I'm her legal guardian."

"Oh." _This just keeps getting better and better._ And on top of everything, that painful feeling had returned.

"She told me about what happened." Arthur continued. "When I told her that I knew you, she gave me a message for you."

Sei sighed. "What is it? Is she going to kill me tomorrow?"

"No." Arthur didn't even laugh. "She says, 'Nice arm'."

"Oh." Sei didn't know what to think about the message. Sophia wasn't mad at him. She had complimented him. The only conclusion that he could come to was that she was insane.


	5. Chapter 5

Sei stared up at the ceiling in his bedroom. Like every bedroom in the compound, it had a map of the compound plastered across it. The logic of this was that the resident would memorize the layout as they stared up while falling asleep. It worked, as Sei had memorized the layout before he had even learned to write his own name.

It was moving from afternoon to early evening, and Sei was bored. He had already finished his homework _and_ his daily work out. He had even gone to the compound's lab and re-done the experiment from Chemistry. Now there was nothing to do other than lie there.

And as he lay there, his mind wandered. He thought about his English class, only then realizing that Alfred had been in it. Then he thought about fourth period's cooking class, where he had watched with no interest as Arthur had burnt tea biscuits black. He wondered what would have happened in Chemistry if they had doubled the amount of chemicals they had put into the soda bottle. _Should I sit with the same people tomorrow at lunch?_

Finally, he thought about Physical Education. He had tried his hardest not to think about it, since he feared that it would bring back the painful feeling. Sure enough, his stomach panged and he felt horrible.

_What is this painful feeling?_ He wondered. For the first time, he tried to figure it out instead of just pushing it away. _Why do I feel like this whenever I think about Sophia?_

_Would I know if I had been raised off the compound?_

Sei gasped and jumped up from his bed. He ran across the room to the intercom that was beside the door. He pressed the button and was instantly connected to the main room in the building. "Distress!" He cried out before anyone on the other end could say anything.

Within heartbeats Sei heard footsteps racing down the hall. He stepped back just before the door swung open and the man who was supposed to be his father figure stepped into the room.

"Talk to me, Sei." He said firmly.

"It's pretty minor, Ludwig." Sei said, trying to sound casual. "It's just that I had this emotional response to something, and I didn't know what it was. I was wondering if I would have known if I had been raised somewhere else."

Ludwig sighed. He knew about every time Sei shared his thoughts, so he knew how drastic they could be. This really was on the lower side of the scale. It was nothing compared to Sei's thoughts of ripping out his own heart so that he could see what it was like to die in a bloody mess.

"What caused the feeling?" Ludwig asked, taking a seat in Sei's desk chair.

Sei sat on the bed and looked Ludwig in the eyes. He opened his mouth to answer, but then hesitated. For some reason, he didn't want to tell Ludwig anything about Sophia. He felt that mentioning her within the compound would connect her to it, and he didn't want that. He quickly thought of something else to say.

"I… got my shirt caught in my locker." He lied.

"Ah." Ludwig breathed, nodding. He got up and walked over to Sei. "Don't worry, Sei." He said, ruffling his hair. "It was just embarrassment. It's completely normal at your age."

"Oh." Sei was relieved that what he had made up actually had a response. "Thanks Ludwig."

"No problem. Now get some sleep." He turned and left he room, closing the door behind him.

Sei lay back on his bed and stared at the ceiling again. He felt a little surprised. He had never held anything back from people at the compound, and he had also never lied to them. He had always thought that they would know instantly if he did lie or hold anything back.

_But I still shouldn't do it again._ He thought, flipping onto his side and hugging his knees. _If I don't share with them, then they can't help me when I need it._

* * *

><p>The next day, when Sei was waiting for English to being, Sophia found him. She came hurrying into the room and ran right up to his desk. He was surprised when he saw the large bandage spread across her forehead, and the painful feeling returned again.<p>

"Sei, I didn't get a chance to talk to you after Gym yesterday." She said happily, leaning against his desk. "I wanted to thank you."

Sei blinked in surprise. _Thank me?_ For a moment he was scared that he had really messed up her brain. "What for?" He asked hesitantly.

"For reminding me what it's like to get hurt in Gym." She laughed. "I haven't gotten hit with a dodge ball since the fifth grade. I forgot how badly they could sting." She acted like the fact that she had been bleeding had been no big deal. "Also, we should play a proper game later." She grinned.

"A proper game?"

"Yeah!" She jumped back and took a fighting stance. "This time I'll know that you're good, so I'll be able to play my best. Then we'll see who's better."

The idea of throwing another ball at her was a little alarming. Sei slipped farther into his seat and nodded slowly. "Alright."

"Great! Then I'll see you in Gym today." She waved as she turned to leave, only faltering when she had to sidestep to get out of Alfred's way.

"Careful, Sophia. Your cousin would kill me if I hurt you." Then he saw the bandage on her head. "Especially since you can get hurt all on your own."

Sophia laughed. "Don't worry, Alfred. You're not strong enough to hurt me." She waved at him as she hurried out of the room.

"Huh?" Alfred stared after her, processing what she had said. Then he shook his head and took his seat beside Sei. "Sometimes that girl says the strangest thing." He shrugged. "It must be an Australian thing."

"She's from Australia?" Sei asked before remembering his policy about getting into long conversations.

"Well…" Alfred drew out the word. "Technically she's from some place called The Principality of Wy, but it's really just Australia."

Anger flashed in Sei. "If she's from The Principality of Wy, then she's from The Principality of Wy." He stated firmly. "Just because she lives _near_ somewhere else doesn't mean that she's _from_ somewhere else."

Alfred blinked at him in surprise. "Uh, alright." He quickly opened his book and started reading something.

Sei sighed, forcing himself to regain his calm, indifferent exterior. Only something regarding countries could make him drop it. He was glad that the compound had given him a Geography credit.


	6. Chapter 6

"No! Not that one!" Sei cried out. He barely managed to snatch the bottle away from Eduard before the taller boy poured it into the beaker. He sighed heavily with relief as he set it down on the counter.

Eduard blinked at him. "What? Why not?"

Sei picked up another bottle and handed it to him. "Use this one; it will stabilize the mixture first." He gestured toward the bottle Eduard had been about to add. "Then you can add that one."

Eduard blinked in confusion at the bottle Sei had handed him. "I thought this was what I had." He muttered. He shook his head quickly before measuring out the chemical (something else he hadn't done before) and carefully poured it into the beaker.

Sei watched as the liquid in the beaker changed colour. All around the room, as other groups did the same thing, he heard gasps of amazement and even some applause. The change meant nothing to Sei, since it was just colour, which could be changed easily if you knew what you were doing.

"Sorry about that." Eduard said, turning to Sei. "My head must not have been in it."

Sei shook his head. "Must not have." He muttered. It was odd. He had thought that Eduard was a very studious person, and that he took these labs very seriously. _If that's the case, then something even more serious than his dedication to school must have happened._

Beside him, Eduard suddenly became very stiff. Looking up, Sei saw that Eduard was staring at him with a kind of fear. He opened his mouth to ask what was wrong, but before he could say anything, Eduard shook his head.

"Sorry." He muttered. He threw the measuring utensil he was holding in the sink and removed his safety goggles. "I have to go." He said quickly before turning and running out of the room.

Sei stared after him for a moment. Then he turned back and finished the lab. _That was odd._ He thought as he watched the colour change yet again.

* * *

><p>At lunch, Sei found himself sitting with Alfred and his friends again. They all had the same thing for lunch as they did the day before. In fact, as Sei looked around the cafeteria, it seemed that everyone had the same thing.<p>

"I'll be returning home to visit my grandmother." Kiku said. They were all talking about what they were going to do over something called 'March Break'. Sei had managed to gather that it was a week in the near future where they didn't have any school.

"I'll just be playing video games all week." Alfred declared, barely understandable around the hamburger in his mouth. He swallowed and reached for his shake. "I just got a new one."

"Peter and Sophia want to go to the river, since the weather should be nice by then." Arthur said. He didn't sound very happy at the thought.

Alfred turned to Sei, looking like he was planning to say something. Sei flinched slightly. _Don't ask. Please, don't ask._ He had no plans, and he didn't know how to explain this to everyone.

Luckily, something behind Sei saved him. "Bella!" Alfred called out. He waved at someone.

Sei turned slightly to look at who Alfred was waving at. A girl was walking swiftly toward their table with a smile on her face. She sat down in the last empty seat at their table and picked up something that looked like waffles. "Hey guys." She said cheerfully. Sei had a momentary thought that her cheerfulness was false. Then their eyes met and her cheerfulness turned into confusion. "Who's this?"

"This is Sei." Alfred said. "He's a new friend."

"But do not fear, mademoiselle." Francis said, putting an arm around the girl's shoulders and holding a rose out to her. "He could never take your place."

"He started yesterday." Arthur explained, pulling Francis away from the girl.

"Oh." The girl smiled again. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Bella."

"Hi."

"Speaking of yesterday!" Alfred said loudly, yet Sei seemed to be the only person taken aback by his volume. "Where were you, Bella? You weren't here for lunch, and you weren't in any of your classes."

"Oh." Bella's smile fell away. "I was, uh…" She looked around at everyone. "Um, at the hospital."

"What?" Alfred and Arthur gasped at the same time.

"Mademoiselle, is everything alright?" Francis asked, leaning in closer to her.

"Um, yes. I'm fine." She looked down at her food. "It's just…" She looked up slightly at Sei, looking nervous.

"I can leave." Sei offered, starting to get to his feet.

Bella looked a little awkward, like she didn't know what to say. It was Alfred to responded first. He grabbed Sei's arm and pulled him back into the seat. "Don't worry about Sei." He told Bella. "He may be new, but he's one of the gang. Like all of us, he's here for you if you need him."

Sei had mixed feelings about what Alfred had said. On the one hand, he was almost glad that he had been called part of something other than the Organization, something that he could proudly share his participation in. On the other hand, he didn't know if he could really be there for Bella, if she did need him. He had no idea how she might need him.

Bella gave a half smile. "Alright." She whispered, leaning in closer to the middle of the table. Everyone, including Sei, leaned in as well. "Um, you see, I went to the hospital to get tested. I did a home test, but I wanted to be sure."

"Tested for what?" Alfred asked.

Bella bit her lip. "I'm pregnant." She admitted. "And… I think I'm going to keep it."

Everyone at the table backed away from the center slowly. There were shocked expressions all around. Even Sei knew what this meant. None of them really knew what to do, or say.

Finally, Alfred spoke up. "Who's is it?" He whispered.

"Eduard's." Bella answered, blushing slightly.

* * *

><p>That night, Sei lay on his bed again. He had a whole new string of thoughts going through his head. Now he was thinking that the thoughts from yesterday were nothing, simple child's play.<p>

One of the people whom he should be calling his friends was pregnant. She was going to have a baby. On top of that, the father was his lab partner. So he knew both of the parents separately, and he was having to prepare for the possibility that he was not going to be able to escape this thing.

_At least now I know why Eduard was acting so strange in Chemistry._

It was strange enough to think that he knew someone who was pregnant, but then he started to think about it in terms of the child. Bella would be having the child, so it would grow up to become its own person. There was even the possibility that it would become the next great world leader.

_How would the world be different in the future if she didn't have the baby?_ He wondered.

That set him off on a whole other string of thoughts. He had never known his own mother, so he had assumed that the Organization had adopted him when he was born. _What if my mother had been a teenager who got pregnant? What if she had gotten an abortion instead of going through with it?_

_How would a world without me be?_

Sei jumped up and turned to the intercom. He started toward it, but then stopped. Bella had trusted him with her secret. If he went to the intercom and told them what he was thinking, he would have to share her secret with them. He couldn't do that.

Instead, he returned to his bed, curled up, and fell asleep thinking about a world where he had never been born.

* * *

><p>When Sai woke up, he was still thinking about that world. He came to the conclusion that it wouldn't be any different from the world he was living in now.<p> 


	7. Chapter 7

"Bella's not coming today." Alfred told Sei, holding up a small electrical device. There were words typed across its small screen.

They were sitting in English, waiting for the class bell to go. The room was pretty loud, and most of the students were gathered in other corners. There didn't seem to be any chance that their conversation would be overheard.

Alfred went back to looking at the small device. "She says she's trying to think of a way to tell Eduard."

Sei found that his interest was caught. "She hasn't told him yet?"

Alfred shook his head. "She was too nervous to tell him yesterday." He started hitting buttons franticly on the device.

Sei sat back and just stared straight ahead. _She never told him._ He thought. _But, something was on his mind yesterday._ He shook his head slightly, trying to figure it all out.

When Alfred finished with his strange device, Sei turned to him. "I think he already knows." He whispered.

Alfred gave him a confused look. "What?"

Before Sei could explain what he was thinking, the bell went and Mr. German took his place at the front of the room. He had a small stack of papers in his hands. "Alright class." He said, starting to pass out the papers. "I have a new assignment for you."

Half the class groaned, while the other half seemed to perk up. Sei was on neither side, as he didn't have enough information to determine whether or not the announcement was good news.

"I want you all to use your imaginations." Mr. German declared. "Reach into the farthest reaches of your mind and pull out all of your fantasies. Write them all down, then tie them together into a world. Use that world as a setting, and write your own short story."

Sei felt his blood run cold. What he got from everything Mr. German said was basically imagine what it would be like to live in another world. The assignment would have him talking non-stop with Ludwig. He wouldn't be able to write more than two lines without calling out 'Distress'.

"I would like to see a rough description of your worlds, and maybe a story treatment by Monday."

* * *

><p>Sei was sitting quietly at his desk in Chemistry when Eduard walked in. He sat beside Sei and didn't say anything. They were clearly both deep in thought.<p>

Then Eduard broke the silence. "You were sitting with Bella at lunch yesterday." He said, making Sei look over at him. "Uh, did she say anything… about…"

Sei groaned inwardly. He had to keep Bella's secret if Eduard didn't know, but at the same time, he wanted to know if Eduard did know. He tried to think of a way to phrase himself so that he wouldn't give anything away if Eduard didn't know. He finally decided to stick to something that everyone close to Bella would know.

"About her absence on Wednesday?" Sei prompted. "Yeah, she told us why she was absent."

"Oh." Eduard seemed both relieved and hurt. "So you know about… the little guy?"

Sei nodded.

"What do you think I should do?" Eduard asked quickly. He looked really flustered, and he was constantly pushing his glasses back into place. "I have school to worry about. If I'm distracted, my grades will slip, and then I don't get into a good post secondary school, so I won't be able to get a good job, and I won't be able to provide for my future family."

Sei was really surprised that Eduard was telling all of this to him. In less than a minute, he had said more than twice as much as he had since Sei had met him. This must really have been weighing on his mind.

"And then there's the fact that she hasn't told me yet." Eduard blurted. "Does she think I won't take it well? Does she think I'll just leave her to deal with it on her own?"

Sei forced himself to interrupt the taller boy. "If she hasn't told you yet, then how do you know?"

Eduard froze suddenly. "Um… I…" He shook his head, refusing to share his source of information.

_Did he steal information from the hospital?_ Sei wondered. He knew that people had broken into hospital networks in the past and stolen files.

"I didn't!" Eduard suddenly said. He looked really torn, then he sighed. "Look, you're already keeping Bella's secret, right?" Sei nodded. "Do you think you could keep my secret too?" Again, Sei nodded, only this time a little hesitantly. "I, uh… I can read minds." Eduard blurted quickly.

Sei blinked in surprise. _Genetic manipulation?_ He guessed.

Then something occurred to him. He couldn't let his mind drift to the Organization while he was around Eduard. Panicked, he quickly grabbed his bag and got to his feet. "I have to go." He said quickly before dashing out of the room.

He managed to get out just as the bell went.


	8. Chapter 8

_This is not good._ Sei told himself as he walked through the hallway toward the cafeteria. If it had been someone at the compound who could read minds, there wouldn't have been a problem, since he shared everything with them. But it was someone at school, someone he had to lie to every time he saw him. _How much has he already heard?_

Sei stopped walking and covered his face with his hand. He had no idea what to do. He couldn't just stop going to Chemistry. There had to be a way through this.

"Sei!"

He looked up quickly when he heard his name. Eduard was walking toward him, a serious look on his face.

_Great._ Sei thought. Then he shook his head. _Blank mind. Uh… Brick wall. Brick wall. Brick Wall._

Eduard made a strange face at him. "Stop that." He said; a hint of laughter in his voice. "I can't talk to you if all you focus on is a brick wall."

Sei narrowed his eyes at Eduard, but he did stop thinking the two words over and over. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Well, first off," Eduard began as they started walking toward the cafeteria. "I want you to know that I can control when I read someone's mind. I only ever do it if someone's actions worry me and they won't tell me on their own."

"Okay…" Sei was a little relieved. The compound was his home, and he had no odd feelings toward it. There was no way that Eduard had read his mind while he was thinking about it.

"Will you have lunch with me today?" Eduard asked as they entered the cafeteria. It was mostly empty, since second period hadn't actually ended yet. "I kind of have to tell my friends that I got a girl pregnant, and I don't know how they'll take it."

Sei was a little surprised. _So he wants me to be there? Isn't that the job of a close friend?_ He didn't like the idea of having to be there for someone. He liked to stick to himself for that very reason. If he didn't have to be there for someone, then he couldn't let that person down.

But he also knew that, now that he'd been asked, he couldn't say no. A little reluctantly, he nodded. "Sure."

* * *

><p><em>Get me out of here!<em> Sei screamed. For a split second he wondered if he wanted Eduard to be reading his mind. Then he shook his head at himself. It was still a little creepy to think about.

Sei and Eduard were sitting at the table in the dark back corner. Sei had forgotten that Eduard was part of Ivan's group of friends. Alfred's warning flashed in his mind. _'That whole group is dangerous.'_ He looked around for a way to escape as Ivan and the rest of the group approached.

"Eduard, who's this?" Ivan asked, narrowing his eyes at Sei.

"He's my lab partner." Eduard suddenly sounded nervous and hesitant. "His name's Sei Gea."

Ivan's eyes widened. Then he nodded and sat down, as did the rest of the group. Sei noticed that Ravis wasn't with them. He guessed that the small boy had taken Peter's advice and taken his lunch elsewhere.

"So you and Eduard play with chemicals together?" Ivan asked.

Sei gulped, but tried to hide how scared he was. "Uh… yeah." He had read somewhere that humor was good at hiding other emotions. "But mostly it's just him stopping me before I drink them."

Ivan cracked a smile. "Well, careful. He's been distracted lately." He looked over at Eduard and raised an eyebrow.

Eduard stiffened and looked away. "Yeah, well, I've had a lot to think about."

Sei turned to Natasha. "Hey, we're in English together first period, right?" He didn't know why, but he gave her a slight smile.

She didn't return the smile. Instead, she glared at him while tightening her hold on Ivan's arm. Sei guessed that they were dating. She looked at him like he was a piece of trash, but he didn't care. "Yeah, so what?"

"Um…" He didn't even know why he had mentioned it. "Well, what did you think of that assignment today?"

"I didn't have to." She said. "It's Danielle Thomson's problem now."

"Natasha!" The other girl in their group cried out. Sei noticed with mild interest that when she spoke, her large breasts bounced. "I thought you weren't going to buy your assignments from other students anymore."

"Don't worry, Katyusha." Natasha said with an evil glint in her eye. "I didn't buy anything."

Eduard nudged Sei and he looked up. "Thank you." He mouthed, nodding in the direction of the exchange that had started between the two girls. Sei gave a half smile in response. He hadn't meant to start them on a road of morality.

"So, Sei." Ivan started, an eerie smile on his face. "Why have you decided to join us today?"

"Um…" Sei shrugged, keeping his expression apathetic. On the inside, he was trying to figure out what to say. He didn't think it was a good idea to tell them that Eduard had invited him. "I…"

"I invited him." Eduard said. He looked like he was going to say more, but he stopped. He just looked down at his food and poked at it.

"Hm…" Ivan turned to his food as well. They all did.

As Sei ate his lunch, he noticed how different it was here from at Alfred's table. He slightly glanced in their direction and saw that they were all laughing. There was a conversation going on among them, and Sei could almost guess that it was centered on the whole fish that Kiku was holding.

_I wish I was eating with them again._ Sei found himself thinking. Then he shook himself. _Of course, I would rather be eating alone than anything._ He corrected himself. Then he glanced back at Alfred's table._ But if I had to eat with someone, I would prefer to eat with them._

"Eduard," The final member of Ivan's group finally spoke up. He had a nervous sounding voice. "Why have you been so distracted lately."

Sei stopped eating and looked at Eduard. He was surprised when the taller boy looked down at him before answering. Sei nodded, trying to look encouraging.

Eduard sighed and turned to face the rest of the table. "I got Bella pregnant." He told them.

The reaction that this got was the farthest thing from what Sei had been expecting, and it reminded him of why he tried not to expect certain outcomes.

Everyone started to laugh.


	9. Chapter 9

They were playing dodge ball again in Physical Education.

Sei stood in the corner again with Ravis, watching as Sophia and Peter went at it again. Somehow, he felt even more detached than he did on Wednesday. This time, he saw the game, but couldn't focus on it, instead of just not caring.

His mind kept drifting off to the English assignment. _Create another world._ He kept having the same thing pop into his mind whenever he thought of it. It wasn't even anything he could really work with. All he thought of was a world exactly like the one he lived in, only there was an extra island in this one.

Sei sighed and shook his head. He knew that if he handed in that, it would be no good. It was really nothing.

Suddenly, Sei was pulled from his thoughts by a feeling of movement. He blinked once, while at the same time bringing his hands up in front of his face. Before he knew what he had done, he had caught one of the balls.

"How do you do that?!" Sophia yelled at him. She quickly grabbed another ball and threw it at him again.

Instinctively, Sei dropped the ball he was holding and caught the new one. Then he looked at Sophia. Her annoyed expression made him smile slightly. Then she moved to get another ball and he saw the bandage that was still on her head.

The painful feeling returned and Sei dropped the ball he was holding like it was on fire. _I'll never throw it at her again._ He told himself.

Sophia suddenly turned to look at him. She frowned slightly. "You're never going to win if you don't throw the ball!" She shouted.

"Like this?!" Peter yelled as he flung one of the balls Sei had dropped in her direction.

Sei watched with wide eyes as the ball hit Sophia hard in the arm. The impact made her stumble and she fell to the ground. Luckily, this time she wasn't badly hurt. She just put her hand over her arms and stared at Peter.

"Now you're going to get it!" She shouted at him. Then she turned to the kids on the sidelines. "New game!"

As everyone filed onto the court again, Sei covered his face. He thought he should feel better after someone else hit Sophia, since it would mean that he wasn't completely vicious. Yet, somehow, the sight had still brought about that painful feeling. It wasn't as strong when Peter hit her, but it was still there.

"Wy won't be beaten!" Sophia giggled, throwing a ball at Peter.

"Only by Sealand!" Peter declared, dodging and throwing a ball at her in return.

Sei blinked in surprise. _Are they talking about countries at war?_ He wondered. He turned to Ravis, who was cowering behind him. "Hey, Ravis, where is Peter from."

Ravis blinked at him for a moment. "The Principality of-" He flinched when a ball hit the wall a few feet away. "-Sealand."

"Oh." Sei turned back to watching the two cousins going at it. For a split second he didn't see them in their Physical Education uniforms, but in military attire, hurling cannonballs at each other. He shook his head to clear the image.

"Yah!" Sophia cried, throwing two balls at once. They both flew at Sei, one closely followed by the other. She was still trying to get him out.

Acting quickly, Sei caught one and threw it back the way it had come. It hit the second one and stopped its trajectory. Unfortunately, Sei had thrown the first ball so hard that it continued on its course even after hitting the other ball.

"Ah!" Sophia clapped a hand over her shoulder where she had been hit. She looked at Sei with a mixture of pain and surprise. "You… You didn't even think about it." She breathed.

Mr. Rush blew his whistle. "Gea! Sit out!"

Sei nodded and walked to the sidelines as everyone filled the court again. He sat down and stared straight ahead. Then his mind started to drift back to his English assignment. This time, he closed his eyes and tried to think of something better than just an extra island.

* * *

><p><em>Every country in the world has a representative. An embodiment of that country's economy and well being. These representatives interact with each other in the ways that their countries interact. Like when world leaders get together to discuss treaties.<em>

Sei liked what he was getting, but then his mind went back to that extra island. How could it fit into all of this? How could it belong in this world of representatives and different than it would in a world without them?

_The representatives needed a place of their own._

Sei nodded to himself. The island belonged to the representatives.

_While they all stayed in the shadows of their own countries, they traveled to their island to discuss important matters. This island was uncharted by any explorer, and it never would be charted._

Sei stopped. Why? Why would it never be charted?

_This island was a country of its own. It, too, had a representative. Since its only inhabitants were the other representatives every so often, its job was to keep the island uncharted._

_This representative, like all representatives, shared a name with his country. His name was…_

Sei couldn't think of a name for the extra island. He tried many combinations of sounds, but nothing sounded right. He mentally sighed and made his mind go blank. He hoped that the name would just come to him, the way the idea of the island had.

…_Sagea._

* * *

><p>Sei gasped as he came out of his thoughts about the English assignment. He shook his head, trying to clear it. He needed to talk to Ludwig right away. He needed to share his thoughts. He needed to-<p>

"Hey, are you okay?"

Sei looked to his left quickly and saw Sophia. She was sitting beside him with an ice pack on her shoulder. They were the only ones around, and she was looking at him with eyes full of worry.

Sei started to shake his head, prepared to tell her that he was fine, but he found that he couldn't.

"Distress." He breathed.


	10. Chapter 10

Sei sat at his desk, scribbling in his English notebook. He wrote down everything he had thought about in Physical Education. He wrote it because, even though it had caused him so much stress, it was the best idea he had, and he didn't think he'd come up with anything better.

Then he got to the part where he had to write the name of the island. He faltered, unable to bring himself to write what he had thought.

_It was just a memory from when I was little._ He told himself. He forced himself to remember when he was three and Ludwig had been teaching him to say his name. He had had trouble remembering what it was, so Ludwig had taught him to string the two names together, and to remember them as one name.

"Sei Gea. Sei-Gea. Sei Gea. Sei-Gea." He repeated the exercise to himself over and over, just like he had when he was younger. "Sei Gea. Sei-Gea. Sei Gea. Sei-Gea. Sagea."

"No!" He shouted to himself. He shook his head hard and tried to rid his mind of the name. He tried to think of something else.

'_Why are you in distress?'_ He suddenly remembered Sophia's words. He remembered how strange her response had been. It had been different from what he had associated a response to the word to be.

'_I…'_ He hadn't been able to tell her, and he had regretted saying the word.

'_You can talk to me. I'm here for you.'_ She had put her good arm around his shoulders. _'Talk to me, Sei.'_

And he had. He was ashamed to admit it, but he had talked to her. He had told her about how he regularly had thought about being in a different world. He had told her about how the English assignment was to make up another world. He had even started to tell her about 'Distress'.

But he hadn't been able to. He had clamed up and looked away.

She hadn't pressed, though. She had just nodded. _'You've been keeping all this bottled inside, haven't you?'_ She had guessed, and he hadn't corrected her. _'You need someone to talk to.'_

Sei blinked as he remembered their conversation after that. He got up from his desk and walked over to where he had dumped his backpack. He dug through the papers that were in it until his hand brushed against what she had given him.

'_Take this.'_

He held the small electronic device. She had called it a cell phone. She had taught him how to power it on and off, so that the battery power wouldn't die. Then she had given him directions on how to use it.

'_Tap this little icon.'_ He pressed the image that looked like a curved moon almost. _'Then press the 2.'_ He pressed the little two. Instantly, the world 'Home' appeared above the number pad. _'Then the icon again.'_ He pressed the same icon again and held the device to his ear.

He heard a ringing sound and his heart jumped. He knew that if Ludwig came in and saw what he was doing, he would be in a lot of trouble. He got to his feet and went to sit in the corner.

"_Hello?"_ The ringing stopped and someone's voice came through the device. It sounded like a girl.

"Sophia?" Sei whispered.

"_Sei!"_ She gasped. _"How are you? Is everything okay?"_

Sei gulped a little before he could answer. "Um… I really need to talk to someone." He started. "Someone who isn't here."

"_What?"_ Sophia sounded confused. _"Do you mean a spirit? I can't help with that, but Arthur might know-"_

Sei quickly spoke so that she wouldn't go on. "No. I mean, someone who isn't… at my house." He bit his lip. He wanted to tell her everything, about how he lived at the compound, about how he had been raised, about how he had never really thought about why they wanted to know everything he thought about.

"_Oh!"_ Sophia laughed slightly. _"Okay, do you think you could come to the park? If not, we can just talk like this, but I think it would be better if we spoke face to face."_

Sei looked around the room, feeling uncomfortable. Then he looked up and saw the map on the ceiling. "Yeah." He said. "I'll head out right now."

"_Good."_ Sophia sounded relieved. _"I'll meet you there. And Sei? Bring your English assignment."_

Sei heard a click and then a strange beeping sound. He sighed and turned off the cell phone. Then he put it back in his bag and went to his desk. He picked up his English notebook and tucked it under is arm.

Then he opened his desk drawer and pulled out a pen with a light on the end of it. Climbing onto his bed, he shone the light on the map. It was a black light, and a line he had drawn in invisible ink lit up.

It was an escape route. Before, when he was younger, he had used it to have adventures. He would follow the route out of the compound silently, just to see if he could. Then he would follow it back in. Nobody had ever noticed that he did this.

Now he was going to use it to get out of the compound for a different reason. He was going to escape to a world where he could tell a friend about his life.


	11. Chapter 11

The park was small and lit by only one lamp post. Even though Sei knew that nobody from the compound would be around, he still stayed out of the light it cast. Instead, he waited in the shadow of a tall oak tree.

It didn't take long for him to hear a voice, but when he did, it wasn't Sophia's.

"Will you please tell me why we had to come out here so late?!" The voice sounded tired and really pissed off.

Then three people stepped into the light cast by the lamp post and Sei relaxed a little. The voice had come from Arthur Kirkland, who Sei guessed had come with Sophia because it was so late. Peter was there too, and he looked really excited.

"It was an emergency." Sophia hissed at Arthur. She started looking around, and Sei saw the expression on her face. She was scared.

_Is she scared for me?_ He wondered. It was a new idea. While at the compound he had been told that the adults cared about his well being, they never really seemed that worried. When he got hurt doing something, they always told him exactly what to do to take care of the injury, as if they were telling him how to put together a model airplane (which they had never done).

Slowly, he stepped out of the shadows, his bag slung over one shoulder. He hesitated at the edge of the immediate circle created by the lamp post. He didn't know how to start explaining things, especially with Arthur and Peter there.

Sophia spotted him before he could really figure anything out. "Sei!" She called out, making the other two look in his direction. She ran over to and threw her arms around him.

"What's going on?" Arthur asked, walking up behind his younger cousin.

"Sei?" Peter said questioningly. He looked confused and suddenly looked like a little kid. "What are you doing here?"

"He needs our help." Sophia stated. She led Sei further into the light cast by the lamp post, further into the circle of warmth crated by the light. "Talk to us, Sei." She prompted.

He quickly shook his head. "Don't say it like that, please." He said, suddenly very bitter toward anything that reminded him of the compound. "That's how they phrased it, and it just sounds cold."

"Who are 'they'?" Arthur asked. He didn't seem as pissed anymore.

Sei gripped the strap of his backpack tightly. "The adults at the compound." He whispered.

"Compound?" Peter repeated.

So Sei told them all about the compound, about how he had grown up there, pretty much never leaving. He explained how he had thought everything he needed was right there. The adults explained things when he asked, so he hadn't thought they were keeping things from him.

"But then people on the outside started asking questions." He told them. "I don't know what the questions were, but one day Ludwig-"

Arthur suddenly cut him off. "Ludwig?" He questioned, sounding fierce.

Sei nodded. "He's my father figure." Now, thinking about Ludwig, he had the urge to return home. He couldn't name anything bad Ludwig had ever done, and he suddenly felt like he was betraying him.

"That bloody bastard!" Arthur swore. "What is he doing around here?"

Sophia put a hand on Arthur's arm. "Not now." She told him. "You can worry about him later." She focused on Sei. "Please, continue."

Sei nodded. "Ludwig, he told me that I had to go out into the world outside of the compound for something called school." He suddenly smirked as he remembered something. "That was on Tuesday."

"So you had never been to a school before Wednesday?" Peter asked. Sei shook his head in response.

"Sei." Sophia whispered. "Earlier, you said something about your English assignment? Did you want to talk about it?"

Sei bit his lip. He felt like he had already been out long enough, but he also knew that he didn't want to stop talking to Sophia about what was bothering him. He slowly nodded and shrugged his backpack off. "It's in here." He said, bending to unzip the bag. Then he pulled out his notebook and handed it to Sophia.

She took it from him and opened it. Since Sei had just started school, the assignment was the first thing in the book. She read what he had written, her eyes growing wide as she did so. When she was done, she passed it to Arthur to read. Then she looked at Sei.

"Where did all of that come from?" She asked him.

Sei was a little confused about why she was asking. "Um… When I thought about a different world, I thought of one identical to the one we live in, only with an extra island." He went on to explain everything about how he had come to what was written in the notebook.

When he was done, Arthur passed the book back to him. "I'm going to kill that Ludwig." He grumbled. "It was him all this time." He shook his head in disbelief.

Sei was confused. "What was him?"

"The reason we're here." Peter said, which didn't help Sei understand any better.

"You see, Sei," Arthur began. "That world you created," He pointed at the notebook. "It's not just made up. Subconsciously, you knew about its existence, and about the representatives."

_What?_ Sei couldn't believe what he was hearing. _There really are other worlds?_ Then he had a moment of logical thought. "How do you know this?"

"Because," Sophia said softly. "The three of us are representatives. I'm the representative of The Principality of Wy." She gestured to her cousins. "Peter is Sealand, and Arthur is Britain."

"A whole bunch of us came to this world!" Peter piped in. "Alfred, Kiku, Bella, Francis, and Ravis too!"

"But why?" Sei asked.

"Because our meetings were threatened." Arthur explained. "Someone, who I'm guessing now was Ludwig, kidnapped Sagea." He looked right at Sei. "We came here in groups to try to find him. We've been here for years now with no leads."

"But now you show up, knowing the whole story of our world." Sophia said with a smile. "Sei."

"Wait." Arthur seemed to think of something. "Sei, what's your last name?"

"Gea." Sei said quietly.

"Of course!" Sophia gasped. She turned to Arthur. "I can't believe I didn't see it before. They didn't even change his name!"

"Wha-" Sei started, but was cut off when Sophia turned around again and gave him a tight hug.

"Sagea." She breathed.


End file.
